1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to image forming system, image forming apparatus, user interface device, extended user interface compatibility confirming method, document scanning method, and setting value managing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
To uniform user interface screens of a plurality of image forming apparatuses that manufacturers and/or types are different from each other, extended user interface devices are sometimes attached to the image forming apparatuses, respectively, and each of the extended user interface devices has a touch panel that includes a liquid crystal display device. In a method, these devices and apparatuses are connected to a server on a LAN (Local Area Network) via a communication medium, and the user interface device obtains an HTML file from the server, and the touch panel displays a user interface screen based on the HTML file.
The method uniforms user interface screens of a plurality of image forming apparatuses, and therefore usability is increased.
Another image forming apparatus operates in two modes: “discontinuous scan mode” and “continuous scan mode”. “Discontinuous scan mode” (i.e. normal mode) identifies one scan job by detecting the end of a scan job at the timing when an auto sheet feeder finishes sending out a bunch of document paper sheets. On the other hand, “continuous scan mode” is capable of determining a plurality of scan operations for bunches of document paper sheets as one scan job.